


Dark Red Future

by ArtsyNeurotic



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Future, Angst, Death, F/M, Time Travel, dark future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 00:23:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6135139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtsyNeurotic/pseuds/ArtsyNeurotic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisitor gets the shock of her life while stuck in Alexius' grim, dark future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Red Future

warning: **spoilery bits** from the mission ** _In Hushed Whispers_**

 

\-------

 

Something stirred in the far cell.    
  
"Another prisoner?" the Inquisitor murmured aloud.  She approached the cell door cautiously.  
  
A haunting moan emanated from the body, slumped against the far wall.  The red lyrium had crept completely up its left side, enveloping its arm and much of its back.  A crest of the crystal was slowly infringing on the man's face, splintering along his left temple.    
  
The Inquisitor cast a small light towards the man.  She paled; this couldn't be happening.  He tilted his head slowly to face the light.  
  
It was Cullen. 

Or what was left of Cullen.  His skin had turned pallid and grey; deep, dark circles had formed underneath where his eyes once were.  What remained were hollow coals of red lyrium gazing back at her.  They twitched in slow realization, but his face contorted into disbelief.  
  
"Maker, not... not this again," came the pained croak.  His once dulcet voice now sounded as if his throat had been dragged across broken glass.  It was all she could do not to collapse into tears at the sight of him, broken and fastened to the wall.  "You damned demons... I c-cannot be swayed. Leave me!" he hissed.  
   
"Cullen" she pleaded, "It's me.  It's really **me**."  
  
A hitch in his throat.  "I won't fall for this again.  She's... she's dead." Agony worked its way throughout his features.   The searing song of red flared in his veins.    
  
The Inquisitor forced the prison door open, kneeling by his corrupted form.  Cullen's breath heightened in a mix of fear and apprehension, but the red lyrium cemented him against the wall, unable to move away.  She brought her shaking hand up to gently stroke his cheek.  The touch surprised him, a long forgotten memory in a nightmare of a world.  It brought him back, cut through the stinging red throbbing, the scent and feel of her skin so welcome a sensation that he would have wept if he were still able.    
  
"...It's **me**."  
  
His voice shook.  "How... how is this possible? I-I..."  Shame and despair darkened him.  "We were captured... I thought Alexius... had killed you.  I failed you.. I... I was so lost."  
Lyrium laced eyes averted her gaze.  "I... I gave up.  It was the Tower all over again... but this time... was so much worse.  I didn't ... I didn't have the will to fight it again."    
  
"It overtook him quickly," Cassandra softly intoned.  "He was in the worst of his lyrium withdrawal, so the pull was immediate.  Because of it his body took the red lyrium even more readily than it had us.  I... do not doubt that they will try to convert him into a Red Templar."  
  
Rage swelled in the Inquisitor.  "Well, I won't let that happen!  We are getting him, and everyone else, out of here!"  She lifted his face to once again meet hers.  "Cullen, I won't leave you.  I **need** you.  We're going to undo everything Alexius did; I'm going to **save** you."  
  
A faint, lopsided grin fought itself free from his tight lips.  "T-there is nothing left of me to save," he took a deep uneven breath, "but I will not lose you a second time."  Planting his hands on  the ground, he screamed out as he pushed against them.  He strained against the prison stones, gasping in tortured effort as he slowly and excruciatingly separated himself from the wall, the crackling of crystal echoing throughout the cell.  In one final exertion he was free, but the push had clearly come at a cost, and the pain etched itself deeply across his face. 

"L-Let's get out of here."     
  
  
*******  
  
  
"We shall go on ahead, try to take out as many as we can," Cassandra barked, "Cullen, you are the last line of defense.  Do not let them through."  
  
The Inquisitor shook her head, "I can't let you kill yourself for me! There must be another way..."  
  
Cullen's severe features calmed, his red embers sad and cool.  "Look at us... we're already dead.  The only way we live is if this day never comes."  He addressed Dorian sternly, "Cast your spell.  You have as much time as I have **life**."  His crystallline fingers gently caressed her cheek.  "...Go!"  
  
As Dorian frantically worked on the amulet, the Inquisitor looked on helplessly as the large doors that blocked the horde were forced open, her friends felled shortly one after another.  The last standing was Cullen, braced with a lyrium sword and bare against the wrath of the oncoming onslaught.  He faltered just for a moment to steal one final look back at the Inquisitor.  Something sparked in his eyes and his fire was reborn anew.  He faced his enemies and bellowed at the top of his lungs.  
  
" **Come, demons**!" The air crackled with ripples of his red lyrium.  He aimed his blade down at them and charged with the ferocity of a monster unleashed.    
  
" _Though all before me is shadow, yet shall the Maker be my guide..._ "  
  
His rage ripped through a lesser demon.  
  
" _I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the beyond..._ "  
  
He obliterated several wraiths, severing their essences.  
  
" _For there is no darkness in the Maker's light, and nothing that he has wrought shall be lost!_ "  
  
He clashed with a greater demon, slashing him point blank and burying his sword deep in its chest... but the blade stiffened and stuck, catching Cullen by surprise.  He was overwhelmed by the demons and flipped around abruptly, disarmed from his weapon.  The Inquisitor could see the brief flicker of realization in his eyes... just before the demonic claw found its way through the back of his chest.  Red crackled and broke around him as he coughed up a fine mist.  
  
" _ **CULLEN!**_ "  
  
Dorian yanked her back apologetically.  "You move, and we all die!"  The spell nearly complete, he dragged her to the swirling green pool behind them.  Cullen stared after her, keeping the demons back but feeling his eyes dim.  Scarred lips mouthed the words.  
  
_.... Go.._  
  
The deep green warped around them and everything went white.  
  
  
*******  
  
  
The Inquisitor had a difficult trip back to Skyhold after everything had calmed down.  It took every bone in her body not to strike Alexius down when they emerged from the portal, but she stayed her hand for the greater good.  He would get his comeuppance in time, but to her right now, nothing was more important than running to Cullen's tower room.  Frantic.  She all but burst into his quarters, much louder than she intended.  He jumped slightly, having been broken out of a thoughtful moment of silence.  
  
His initial raised eyebrow softened as he tried to thinly disguise his delight in seeing her.  He cleared his throat, endeavoring a professional air.  "Inquisitor, welcome back."  The corners of his lips betrayed him however, and they trickled up into a slow, wide smile that greeted her warmly.    
  
There it was.  His dulcet voice returned.  A slight, carefully hidden twitch of his hand behind his back, but an otherwise healthy and well Cullen.  In front of her.  
  
Suddenly the lump in her throat threatened to suffocate her completely.  The wave of relief was so intense that her feeble attempt to distance what she had experienced just a short while ago from her present was completely undone.  The image of that tortured, lyrium encrusted soul that had died right in front of her was still far too vivid in her mind... it was impossible to forget.  She tried to take a breath to start speaking to him, but it caught on her grief and tumbled downwards into racked sobs.  
  
His cool facade utterly shattered at her crying.  He rushed over to her, a wave of concern overwhelming all other thoughts in his mind.  "Inquisitor!  What... what's _wrong_?"  He felt the compulsion and allowed himself it, embracing her tenderly and stroking the back of her head as she buried it in his chest.  She would have to explain the dark future she saw once she regained her senses, but for the moment she just needed **this** , to be safe with him and for him to be here safe... with her.  
  
"I..." she managed through a hitch, "I had a nightmare."


End file.
